Click the Start Menu and then enter “gpedit.msc” in the search box and press enter.

You will have to be logged in as an Administrator to make these changes. This is the whole point. Nobody else can make these changes without an Administrator password.

Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System. Under Setting, scroll down and then double-click on “Run only specified Windows applications”. If this is your first time attempting this and you are concerned about messing things up, simply create a restore point before commencing. This will allow you to go back and start over if you do something you didn’t mean to do. Restore points are a bailout. System restore allows you to undo changes.

When you double-click “Run only specified Windows applications, you will be presented with the following window and you will need to set to “Enabled” as indicated.

You may list as many applications as seen fit. The only trick is to get the name of the app or program correct. That’s it. Fill the list up with all applications to be shared and you are ready to go. When you are finished, close out the Local Group Policy Editor and you are done.

Should any user try to use an application that was not listed in the Local Group Policy Editor, an error message will be displayed and access will be denied.

Click the “Show” button located adjacent to “List of allowed applications”. This opens a dialog box where you will be able to enter all of the applications and programs that you want to allow users to run. In this example, an antivirus program was added. The user of this PC wants all users to be able to have access to antivirus software at all times, so the antivirus software is included. It is very important to list ALL applications, including startup applications and Windows itself or the user will be locked out of unlisted applications. This example lists only Webroot. If it were left at that, the user would only be able to use the antivirus software and no other programs. All of this is detailed in the text of the right portion of the window. Read it carefully.

You may list as many applications as seen fit. The only trick is to get the name of the app or program correct. That’s it. Fill the list up with all applications to be shared and you are ready to go. When you are finished, close out the Local Group Policy Editor and you are done.
Should any user try to use an application that was not listed in the Local Group Policy Editor, an error message will be displayed and access will be denied.

The tool allows system administrators, actually all users, to remotely test the following client types and services:

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync Connectivity Tests

• Exchange ActiveSync- This test simulates the steps a mobile device uses to connect to an Exchange server using Exchange ActiveSync.
• Exchange ActiveSync Autodiscover – This test walks through the steps an Exchange ActiveSync device uses to obtain settings from the Autodiscover service.

Microsoft Exchange Web Services Connectivity Tests

• Synchronization, Notification, Availability, and Automatic Replies (OOF) – These tests walk through many basic Exchange Web Services tasks to confirm they’re working. This is useful for IT administrators who want to troubleshoot external access using Entourage EWS or other Web Services clients.
• Service Account Access (Developers) – This test verifies a service account’s ability to access a specified mailbox, create and delete items in it, and access it via Exchange Impersonation. This test is primarily used by application developers to test the ability to access mailboxes with alternate credentials.

Microsoft Office Outlook Connectivity Tests

• Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP) – This test walks through the steps Outlook uses to connect via Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP).
• Outlook Autodiscover – This test walks through the steps Outlook 2007 uses to obtain settings from the Autodiscover service.

Internet E-Mail Tests

• Inbound SMTP E-Mail – This test walks through the steps an Internet e-mail server uses to send inbound SMTP e-mail to your domain.
• Outbound SMTP E-Mail – This test checks your outbound IP address for certain requirements. This includes Reverse DNS, Sender ID, and RBL checks.

The online tool displays the available connectivity tests in a tabbed interface. Selectable are Exchange Server, with the tests listed above, or Office 365, which includes all the tests from above plus the following test.

Microsoft Single Sign-On (BETA)

• Microsoft Single Sign-On – This text will validate your ability to log on to Office 365 with your on-premises credentials. It also validates some basic Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS) configuration.

The sign-on test basically checks if it is possible to log on to Office 365 from the computer it is executed on.

Admins can only select one test at a time. A click on the Next button in the interface loads a page where credentials, email addresses or other data that is relevant for the tests need to be entered by the admin.

The online tool runs the connectivity tests afterwards and displays any connectivity issues directly on screen.

Here is a video by a young lady explaining the basics of the Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer.

Windows administrators and interested users can access the online tool to test the remote connectivity of Office 365 and Microsoft’s Exchange server right here.

That is where Turbo Service Manager comes into play. The software program feels like a portable advanced version of services.msc. Like its official counterpart Turbo Service Manager displays all Windows services in its main window. The name, description, state and startup type are listed plus the dependencies which is the first major difference to the Microsoft tool.

Dependencies are other services that either depend on the selected service or services that are required to run before the selected service can be started. Father and child processes so to speak. It is possible to sort all services by every listed parameter.

Working with Turbo Services Manager is easier because it provides keyboard shortcuts for most possible actions. It is possible to start, stop, resume, uninstall and pause services with keyboard shortcuts. The same is true for changing the startup type of a service. One interesting feature is the option to select multiple services at once and apply an action to all of them at once. Something that is not possible when working with services.msc.

Turbo Service Manager can select all services that depend on or are required for the selected service to run. More interesting than that option is the ability to save and load a Windows services configuration. Test Load displays the changes that would have been made to the services configuration if the configuration would have been loaded.

TSM is a small portable application that runs fine on 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows XP and Windows Vista

Update: I have published a new review of the program in 2011. You find the updated review by following this link: Turbo Service Manager, Manage Windows Services More Effectively